Holy Nerdfest, Batman!

I attended my first comic book convention as a featured artist on Saturday. The Steel City Con was held in Cheswick, PA over the weekend, featuring the likes of: Anthony Daniels, the actor who played C3PO in Star Wars; Catherine Bach who played Daisy Duke in the Dukes of Hazzard(!); Jim Martin, the 4-time Emmy Award-winning director from Sesame Street and Mr. Roger's Neighborhood; and Mick Foley, three-time WWF Champion. Check out this PG video from the convention, even though I'm not in it.

I was manning the ToonSeum table, along with a few other cartoonists. The ToonSeum is Pittsburgh's newest museum and features cartoon art from all genres. (Full disclosure: I am the president of the board of the ToonSeum.) What does an editorial cartoonist do at a comic book convention other than feel out of place? Aside from signing copies of my cartoons, I was also selling a collection of Bush cartoons that I edited called Bush Leaguers, and distributing free copies of the ToonSeum's latest cartoon project, North, a comic book guide to Pittsburgh's North Side.

As you might guess, there were many costumed actors walking around and posing for pictures.

I managed to get my picture taken with Steelman, proving that I was there. According to his website, the Steel Man’s costume is inspired from Pittsburgh’s Industrial Past and Present Steelmaking in the United States. He's the self- proclaimed "World's First and Only Ever Post-Industrial Anti-Hero." If anyone knows what that really means, please explain it in the comments below. http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/robrogers/archive/2009/04/27/holy-nerdfest-batman.aspx

Posted Apr 27 2009, 05:10 PM by Rob Rogers Filed under: Comic, Cartoon